There are five main life lessons that we can gather from reading this section. The first life lesson is seen in chapter ten and it is to be ready to back up your opinion of something or what you have to say. You may have to do this in several situations such as a job interview or simply on a test. We see Jim Gallien and Wayne Westerberg both doing this in chapter ten. When Jim calls to tell the police he knows Chris, the police are doubtful and Jim has to explain different items Chris had with him in order to get the troopers trust. A similar thing occurs when Wayne calls to help with the body identification. The troopers were getting so many false calls that they didn't believe Wayne. He eventually had to give the trooper Chris's social security number to get him to believe him. In chapter 11 the life lesson is to allow others to help you and take their advice. We learn from Chris's father that he never really allowed anyone to help him. For example, he never liked to be coached and when his dad tried to teach him racquetball Chris wouldn't let him, so Chris ended up losing a tournament. The next two life lessons are seen in chapter 12. One of the life lessons is stay in touch with your family. Many people are lucky to have a family and they take it for granted that they will see them everyday. However, there are people that would do just about anything to have some sort of family, but in this book Chris pretty much just throws his family away. Another lesson seen in this section is when someone hurts you should you forgive them and forget about it, forgive them but remember what they did, or should you just hold a grudge against that person. It is a tough decision to make and many times it depends on the situation. People have completely different views on what to do, and this is mainly an opinion, but you should keep in mind what you would do. Finally, the last life lesson is in chapter 14, and it is not to take unnecessary risks and to know your limits. Krakauer tells us about his climb on Devils Thumb, and how he ran out of ice on his way up the mountain. He tried to find a way up, but he realized he couldn't go any further and he had to go back down and not risk anything. These are the main life lessons seen in this section of reading.
Chris Steiner